If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Amazon has the dumbest recommendations

I live in BFE, so I order a lot of stuff online as opposed to driving 30 minutes to an electronics store or bookstore. Since deepdiscount means "You'll get it in two months, if ever," and Amazon is usually comparable (and much faster), they get a lot of my orders.

Trouble is, they love to send recommendations. I don't opt out, since they could possibly send me something useful.

But most are junk. Like "We've noticed people who purchase albums by John Williams also love Judy Garland." Huh? Nothing against the lush, but I kinda sorta quasi-like The Wizard of Oz, and that's where it ends.

Or "As someone who purchased books by Jude Watson in the past, we thought you might like to know that The History of Western Economics in Taiwan will soon be released."

Yeah, it's based on what other people have bought, but this is crazy.

Also, I buy one Christmas CD, and a year later, they still think I only want Christmas music.

What makes it especially funny: I've bought a few CDs by Lindsey Buckingham (the lead guitarist and a pretty talented dude--ask mabs sometime), and rated albums by Fleetwood Mac. This morning, I type in the URL of an unrelated site, and it must be down since the Google search page pops up. First sponsored link (though it has nothing to do with the site I was going to) is a new album by Lindsey Buckingham. First I've heard of it.

Isn't it funny that they make all these weird connections, but a new album by a guy I've bought stuff from before, and who tends to go under the radar most of the time, comes out, and their programs don't think I might be interested?

That about ****es me off. I'm not, never have been and never will be a trekkie. They are NOT the same. One is fantasy and one is reality. SW is REAL!!!! (It just happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...)

Yeah, I get recommendations for new non-SW books by SW authors all the time. I've tried to read non-SW books by these guys in the past, and never been able to finish. Even Timothy Zahn isn't very good without SW.

(In fairness, there are many I've never read "outside" SW, like Salvatore, Stover, Brooks, and Luceno, all of whom seem like they could be good enough to buck the trend.)

I thought Salvatore was more than one person, all with generic writing styles so you could interchange them?? Iso&Baws
I got off the EU train halfway through that first Zahn book- I think I lterally said "F$#K off" and put it down laughing and that was it, the guy couldn't write a "Closed" sign convincingly

Trouble is, they love to send recommendations. I don't opt out, since they could possibly send me something useful.

These are just some examples. Any other good ones?

What is that acronym, Chux?

I have purchased two "apparel" items in the past: a Super Bowl XL Steelers hat, an OSU cap, and a MLB All-Star Game shirt from Pittsburgh. So, naturally, Amazon said "based on your previous apparel purchases," they recommended some sports bras. Now, if there was someone who came with such an item, that'd be a useful thing. Not my style for myself. So, in Amazon math: 2 (sports caps) + sports shirt = women's apparel. No wonder the US is doing so poorly in mathematics.

Speaking of which, do you guys remember the time Amazon got themselves in deep **** when they listed movies about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X under the recommendations list for the "Planet of the Apes" DVD?

I figured it wasn't a real place (was racking my brain for where that'd be in the extended Inland E. ). Watch out; Amazon will start recommending The Prince of Egypt: Special Edition DVD or "The Bangles Greatest Hits" if you spread that phrase around the Web.

You know, you can drive in any emotion you like: happily, joyfully, morosely, influentially, excrutiatingly, etc. Don't need to just go seriously.

I do notice when visiting the EE site, there is a section at the bottom of the toys you are looking at that says " People who bought this item, also bought these items" or something like that. On occasion I find something in there that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise.